


Droplets

by faerietalks



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: DenNor, Ice shows up in later chapters, M/M, Merfolk AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 14:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5052856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faerietalks/pseuds/faerietalks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An ordinary walk on the beach is what Magnus had expected.<br/>But what he found washed up on the shores was something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for DenNor week day 2 prompt: Fairytale

“You’re not real,” his voice was shaking, stuttering.  
“You can’t be real,” Magnus’ eyes were wide at the sight of the stranded merman in front of him.

He was helplessly lost at what to do, the situation was too unlikely to happen to ever have been prepared for.   
Magnus was just out on his usual morning jog, of course he didn’t expect to see a creature of myths and lore to lie on the beach, far away from the shoreline. 

“You’re a fairytale! You’re not real!” Magnus backed away from the merman, who tried his best to turn himself around, tail moving like a snake on the warm sand. 

“I am real,” the merman whimpered, stretching a clawed hand out, trying to grasp at anything. Magnus was drawn towards him, his heart wanting to help, but his mind told him that it could be dangerous. The sharp claws and teeth of the merman only fueled Magnus’ fear.

“Please,” he heard the merman whisper, his voice almost sobbing.  
“Please, I need to go back.”

“Then crawl the other way,” Magnus took another step back, and the merman burst out in tears.

“I… didn’t mean to hurt you I…” Magnus carefully took a step closer, and he heard the quiet whimper from the mythical creature;

“But I can’t see.”

How Magnus had managed to get the merman back to his house was beoyond him. Even though the merman wasn’t very heavy, his pearly blue tail was long and the damp scales made him slippery.   
But as Magnus’ determination was one of his gretest strenghts, he was now sitting on his bathroom floor, looking at the blind merman lying in his bathtub.

“Good thing I didn’t throw it out,” he mumbled to himself, mesmerized with the way the merman’s tail-fin was waving side to side.

“Thank you,” the merman purred, actually purred, and rested his head against the edge of the bathtub. His eyes were still half-closed, and Magnus could just barely see two deep blue irises behind the lids and light eyelashes.

“It’s okay,” Magnus held his hand against the merman’s to possibly shake.

The merman flinched, pulling his hand away and hesitating before reaching back, wrapping his hand around Magnus’ index finger.

“I’m Magnus,” he said, slowly moving their hands like a handshake.

“I am Sindre,” the merman’s lips turned up in a small smile, and he started playing and moving Magnus’ fingers in his hands. The only sound was Sindre’s soft purring and the droplets of water falling and hitting the tiled floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dennor-week day 3 prompt: Loss

Days had passed since the day Magnus happened upon the blind merman on the beach that one morning. Magnus had started to enjoy the company, but having the merman in the bathroom was a little off-putting every time he needed it for its intended use. 

The checkout worker at the local textiles store had also started to give him weird looks, probably after buying several extra-large towles.

Sindre still couldn’t move, his tail and lack of sight didn’t work well in Magnus’ cramped apartment. But the merman did enjoy sitting on the sofa, wrapped up in towels and blankets and listening to the tv. Sometimes he also tried to lie across Magnus’ lap, putting his head on Magnus’ thigh and purring when his hair was stroked. His hair was surprisingly soft, despite being drenched in water most of the time. 

One night, when Magnus was watching tv with the merman’s head in his lap, stroking his hair and listening more to the soft purring than the detective in the bad soap-opera, a thought or flash of realization suddenly hit Magnus.

Sindre was blind. A blind merman at that. Had he hurt his eyes when he was washed up on the shore? Had he washed up on the shore because of his eyes?   
Magnus realized he’d not questioned the situation nearly enough. He mentally smacked himself for not questioning a merman’s existance as much as he probably should.

“Sindre?” Magnus’ stopped stroking the merman’s hair, waiting for the purring to stop before he continued.

“Why were you on the shore that day? What happened?” he felt how the merman twitched before exhaling deeply. It was with a hesitant voice that he spoke.

“I was caught in a current, that stormy night some days ago,” Magnus remembered that night. The electricity had gone out and his brother’s lawn was filled with treebranches that had broken off from the hard winds.   
After a qiick calculation Magnus realized Sindre must have been stranded on the beach for 2 days before they met.

“No one came to rescue you before me?”   
“I don’t know if anyone saw me. I couldn’t see them, and I focused on listening to the waves, trying to hear if they’d come closer to me.”

Magnus bit his lips, afraid that asking about the merman’s sight would be too personal. But then again, he thought, he had invited the merman into his own home, fed him and cared for him when he needed it. Magnus decided that he could at least try to get some answers.

“Did you lose your sight in the storm?” the merman didn’t flinch or twitch this time, instead he tried to move so he lied on his back. With a little help from Magnus, Sindre was in his prefered position, and he held onto Magnus’ hand and played with his fingers as he spoke.

“When we were created, my kin and I, the moon dropped down droplets of silver and gold into our eyes. Silver for light, gold for colour, two of each into both our eyes,” the merman spoke softly, his hand trailing up to Magnus’ face, clawed finger gently tracing the hollow beneath his left eye.

“I wasn’t pure enough at birth, so she only gave me one droplet of silver. I can barely see at all, I’ve never been able to,” the merman blinked, and Magnus felt his heart sink. Despite the lore behind their vision, the idea that Sindre wasn’t “pure enough” to have sight was heartbreaking. Especially since to Magnus, Sindre looked like the Northern Lights had descended and become a merman. 

All his being was light, from the soft but cold pale flesh to the pearly blue tail, shimmering with the colours of the aurora, and hair a light ash blond. Magnus wondered if to merfolk it was the dark that was pure, and the light was not.

“You seem pure to me,” Magnus mumbled, but the merman big his lips and held a finger to Magnus’ mouth.

“I am not. If I was, I wouldn’t be punished like this.”

“You can see shadows? That must be a sign of something?” 

“It’s not my sight that’s my biggest punishment,” Magnus could feel the merman start to shake, and he gently sat him up and held his hand as he sobbed.

“I lost my brother,” if Magnus heart could sink any deeper, he was sure it just had.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dennor-week day 4 Prompt: Fjords

The days following the revelation that Sindre had a brother, Magnus felt a lump in his stomach. The merman had been feeling low, and Magnus felt very guilty for hitting such a sore spot. He felt even more guilty for not getting the merman back to the sea where he belonged.

Even worse, he was afraid of asking where the merman’s home was, because it might make him cry even more. 

It was weird to see the strong merman look so frail. Although blind, Sindre possessed a strenght that Magnus could never have imagined. The merman had demonstrated his strenght by picking Magnus up and holding him in the air. But the sadness had gotten to him, and it was clear to see in how the merman appeared smaller, more quiet. No longer purring when Magnus combed his hair.

“Sindre,” he said with a calm voice one night when he was feeding the merman, who was tentively listening to the rain falling outside.

“Where do you come from?” the merman licked his lips after he finished another mouthful of mackerel pudding. Magnus himself thought the pudding was gross, but if the merman liked it he’d give it to him.

“I come from the sea,” Sindre dreadpanned, scrunching his nose at Magnus. 

“No I mean… I want to bring you back to your home, where in the sea are you from?” the merman’s expression went blank, mouth closed and he sighed as if he was deep in thought.

“My brother said, that where we live… On the surface around us the mountains sing when the wind blows. He says the moon watches over us all winter, and in the summer she is hidden behind the sun.” 

Magnus listened to the merman’s words carefully, trying to find hidden meaning behind every word he said. Singing mountains and an absent moon in the summer, it sounded like a fairytale landscape.

“The people who live there, on the surface, claim they’re northern men. I couldn’t possibly tell, but it is in a cold northern sea I come from,” Magnus drew a sharp breath, his face lighting up as he realized just where he needed to take the merman.

“You live around the Fjords! That’s a long way from here, I’ll need to get a good boat.”

“You mean…” the merman’s worried voice made Magnus look down and calm himself from his excitement.

“You’re bringing me home? You don’t want me here anymore?” Magnus chuckled and pulled the merman into a hug.

“I’d love for you to stay, but you belong with your brother. You miss him, I’ll get you home, to the Fjords and your family,” the merman closed his eyes and smiled, hugging Magnus back and whispering ‘thank you’ and purring softly again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dennor week day 5 Prompt: Firsts

“There must be some way to get a boat here!” Mangus groaned and shut his laptop, with a lot more force than was actually needed. The harsh noise made the merman flinch, making him fall down from his place on the couch.

“I’m sorry,” Magnus sighed as he picked him up, putting him down on the couch beside him. Sindre leaned against his chest and purred, something he’d started to do when he sensed that Magnus was in a low mood.

“I’m fine,” Magnus leaned his head back, his hand stroking back the merman’s hair. Sometimes he wondered if Sindre wasn’t actually half-cat and not half-fish. But Magnus’ supposed it was just a part of the merman’s other-wordly charm.

“I’ll get you home,” he mumbled, feeling sleepier and sleepier, nothing on his mind besides the merman, the only sound the low purring. 

As Magnus drifted off to sleep, lying down on his back with Sindre on his chest, the merman tried to move closer to his face. He stretched his neck as much as he could, until he finally could place a soft kiss to Magnus’ cheek.   
“Sleep well, dear friend,” Sindre mumbled, nuzzling his face into the crook of Magnus’ neck, breathing in his scent before falling asleep as well. 

“I have bad news,” Magnus entered the bathroom one morning, Sindre humming to show he was listening. In his hands he held a bath sponge, trying his best to feel what the strange object was. 

“I found a boat,” Magnus began, before he was silenced by the sponge flying his way, the merman having thrown it away. 

“That’s not bad news,” Sindre shook his head, eyes fully closed as he made small waves in the bath water. 

“The boat is in another town, I’ll need to take you there by car,” when Magnus got no response from the merman, he sighed and sat down by the tub. 

“You’ll be noticed, you have your tail,” Sindre stopped making waves and he turned his head. Mouth closed, furrowed brows and blind eyes half-lidded. 

“I can get legs.”  
“Yeah, I’m sure you can, but really this is a problem!”  
“I can get legs,” Sindre cut him short, his voice stern and hand gripping the side of the bathtub, grip so hard Magnus was sure the iron could bend under it.

“H-how? Why haven’t you done it?”   
“I don’t have enough power in me,” the merman admitted, a hint of shame in his voice. Magnus sighed and ruffled his hair, saying that he’d fix this situation somehow. 

“I have to leave for work, I’ll be back in some hours. I’ll put out something for you to eat here on the floor.”  
“Where do you work? Can’t you work from home?” Magnus sighed and excused himself, wondering if there was any other way to explain “construction worker” than “builder”. 

Sindre listened to Magnus footsteps fade out, the door being shut and locked. He sighed and listenened to the tap dripping, taking a deep breath and submerging in the water, his mind set on making his powers work.

“I’m home!” Magnus called into the dark apartment later the same day. He listened to hear if the merman was awake, but he heard no sound. Magnus started to look around, turning on the light in every room he passed. Entering the bathroom, he saw an empty bathtub, a wet trail leading from it.

Now he started to panic. Had someone broken into his home and stolen the merman? Had the merman vanished? Had Magnus just been imagining it all?

A thump from his bedroom alerted him and pulled him out of his thoughts, and he ran as fast as he could, swinging up the door to reveal what was in the small room.

“Sindre-” Magnus stopped dead in his tracks. In his room stood Sindre, actually stood, on two legs. 

“I was cold in… in the water,” the changed merman took two stumbling first steps before falling into Magnus’ arms, drained of all his power. 

Magnus stood still for a moment, dumbfounded and at loss for what to do. When the shock had let go of him, he decided it was best to get the merman some clothes and put him to bed, trying to push away his thoughts about how soft the pale skin on the merman’s new legs was.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~ One drop of Water, Pure and Fresh ~

“Okay, a little more to the left. Right, left, ri-” Magnus sprinted forward when he noticed how Sindre was starting to stumble. Teaching the merman how to walk was hard enough without having to count in his blindness. Magnus sighed and felt quite happy about not owning loads of fine vases or potted flowers.

Sindre whined as he let himself fall into Magnus’ arms, clutching the fabric of the man’s t-shirt. His legs were wobbly and not as strong as he’d hoped, performing the magic had been more exhausting than he first had thought. 

And, worst of all, Magnus had tried to force him to wear clothes. Sindre had openly refused to wear anything but a very big and warm sweater that Magnus owned, loving the feel of it and the smell. It smelled like Magnus, and to Sindre that was a big comfort, Magnus was the only thing he knew in this new world he couldn’t see. 

“I’m too weak, I drained myself,” Sindre mumbled, wrapping his arms around Magnus and trying to heave himself into the taller man’s arms. He heard how Magnus sighed and felt how two strong arms lifted him up. Sindre laid his head to rest against Magnus’ shoulder, breathing in the now familiar scent.

“I still can’t believe you did it. Why could you do it now, and not before?” Magnus asked, laying Sindre down on his bed and sitting down beside him. Magnus was hesitant to lie down beside the merman, he was afraid to overstep his boundaries. Not that Sindre minded, the merman was more than comfortable with being close to him.

“Magic. All of my kind have a bit of magic in them, that they can use in different ways,” Sindre wrapped himself up in Magnus’ arms, his own sightly thinner ones finding their way around the other’s warm torso. 

“My brother can move the water, control it to an extent… I can change my tail for two legs, given that we have power and fresh water.”  
“Fresh water?”

“Yes. When the moon made us who live in the sea, she gave us magic in a drop of fresh water, right in our hearts. I was lucky that you kept me in a place filled with it,” Magnus laughed and ruffled the merman’s hair. 

“Very lucky indeed. This means you can stay human for long?”  
“Until I want to change back. I could change back if I get too weak, but with your help and care that will not happen,” the certainty and trust in Sindre’s voice moved Magnus. He felt his heartbeat speed up, even more when he noticed the small smile on Sindre’s lips. 

“You’ll have to wear something to cover your legs when we get the boat,” Sindre whined at Magnus’ words, demanding that it would not be the uncomfortable sacks known as “trousers”. 

Magnus held back from laughing at the merman, who was tapping at his bicep with his fingers, before leaning closer to him and falling asleep, soft purrs vibrating in his chest.   
He would find something to cover the merman’s long legs with, and while he was at it, he could even try to make him appear more dream-like than he already was.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~ One drop of water from a clear sky ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Netherlands appears in this chapter, and his name is Lars.

Sometimes Magnus wondered what his life would have been like if he hadn’t moved away from home as quickly as he did. Right out of high school, taking an okay-paying job at a building company in another town. A fresh start, a new life. 

Magnus wondered about how different his life would have looked, very often during sleepless nights. But now, when he had Sindre to help and care for, he was grateful that he was given the chance to change his life so early on. 

The merman looked so innocent when he slept, lips parted and Magnus arm hugged close to his chest.  
Magnus sighed and studied the merman, from long blond locks of hair to sharp jaw and cheekbones, from a toned chest to long legs. Legs that had grown stronger in just a few days. 

In the morning, those legs would have to be covered in fabric that the merman disliked, and they’d have to walk in places the merman could not locate in by himself. They’d have to be sitting still in a car for three hours, and then the on a boat for another four before the merman would once more be close to the waters where he came from. 

Magnus had dreaded the car journey. He had worried about the merman’s reactions to the engines sound, the smells, the feeling of moving fast where he can’t see. 

It had been easier than he expected. The merman only whined at the skirt Magnus had forced on him, but admitted that it was better than the dreaded trousers. The merman had loved the feeling of being in fast motion again, telling Magnus about how he and other merfolk had raced when he was younger.   
The merman had also developed a love for human music thanks to the car radio. 

“My friend might ask you questions, try to not reveal too much,” Magnus warned when he saw that they were coming closer to their destination.

“If he’s your friend it shouldn’t matter?”

“It’s for your safety, his sanity, and my wallet…” Magnus grumbled, cursing his friend Lars’ money-driven tactics. It had earned the tall man a fortune, but it had also cost him some friends. Except for Magnus, and sometimes even he wasn’t sure why he kept contact with the dutchman. But times like these, when Magnus was in need, he knew that with a little bit of bribing he could get what he needed.

The boat was in good shape, and for the price of letting Lars use his car while he had the boat, Magnus thought it was a good deal. Their “no questions” rule was almost broken though, when the taller man gave Magnus odd looks as he helped the merman in a flowery pink skirt get onto the boat without hurting himself. 

“A long haired blind man… in a skirt..?” the dutchman had mumbled, before shaking his head and going into his house to get the keys to the boat engine for Magnus. 

“Soon you’ll be home,” Magnus said as he sat down beside Sindre in the boat. Sindre leaned against his shoulder and sighed, a relieved humming coming from his chest.   
When Magnus saw Lars come out from his house, he quickly kissed the mermans’ forehead before going to take the keys. The dutchman smiled at him and said with a firm voice “no sex on my boat,” before going back inside. 

Magnus’ face flushed red and he was thankful the merman couldn’t see it. He hadn’t even thought twice about kissing him, it had felt like a natural thing to do. Sindre didn’t seem to mind, curling up in the seat beside Magnus and smiling when he heard the waves crashing into shore, feeling drops of water hitting his skin when the boat started moving against the waves.

“The water tingles,” Sindre murmured as he took hold of Magnus’ hand and pulling his legs up to his chest, squirming around making Magnus worry something was wrong, before he saw the soft smile on Sindre’s face.

“Soon you’ll be in it again,” Magnus fought the urge to kiss the merman’s hand, only to feel how Sindre carefully places his lips against his palm, leaving a soft kiss. 

Magnus wondered if his blushing face could work as a warning signal, because he was sure it was glowing red.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~ One drop of family ~

It had taken them almost four hours to get to the fjords, and Magnus felt the worry bubbling up in his stomach. How would he know where the right place was? Could he trust that the blind merman would find his way back home by himself, once he got in the water. 

The once clear skies were now filled of grey clouds, and Magnus wished that the rain wouldn’t come when he and Sindre were still out in open water. Because even if Sindre would be okay, Magnus doubted that he would make it to shore if there was to be a storm. 

Magnus looked down on the sleeping merman, who murmured in a language the dane did not understand. The merman’s arms were wrapped around Magnus’ waist, his head resting in his lap. 

Magnus had tried to get the merman off him, but when his pulling only made Sindre cling on to him more he gave up. Besides, Magnus had gotten used to the merman sticking by his side, and he would be lying if he didn’t feel a bit sad over the fact that they would soon be separted. 

The wind whined as it blew around the fjords, the noise waking up the merman.  
Sindre sat himself right up and held his breath as he listened to the sounds.

“I am home,” he whispered, taking hold of Magnus’ arm and pressing it against his chest. Sindre’s cheeks took on a rosy tint and the corners of his mouth peeked up ever so slightly, but Magnus noticed and it made him happy to see the merman so excited to be home again.

Magnus drove the boat to the closest shore, just in case something would happen and he needed to get on land. He stood up and looked around, noting how hidden the place was. The fjords were high and close together, the water around them very secluded, and Magnus could see how it was a perfect place for a merman to live. 

“Get me in the water, please Magnus,” Sindre pleaded as he stood up, his legs wobbly from sitting down for so long. Magnus wondered what would happen, if Sindre’s legs would just turn back into a tail, or something else.   
Magnus remembered the tale of the little mermaid, and how she threw herself from a ship and dissolved into foam when she hit the water, and he felt his heart grow heavy with fear of the same thing happening to the merman. 

Helping Sindre stop off his clothes, he carefully helped the merman to the end of the boat, hands holding onto Sindre’s pale hips. Magnus gently squeezed the soft skin, wanting to remember the feel of them before they’d no longer be there for him to hold. 

Sindre sensed how Magnus tensed up, and he drew in a breath before turning around. 

“Magnus, what’s wrong?” Sindre searched for Magnus’ cheek with his hand, and upon finding it gently caressed it with his fingertips. 

Magnus wanted to say that he was worried for what would happen to the merman, and how he would miss him. Magnus wanted to tell Sindre that it was like the merman had put a spell on him, and how in the days when they’d been together he’d felt how he’d slowly become infatuated with the merman.

But he got no chance before a longing voice called out the merman’s name, making Sindre spin around and fall down into the water.   
Magnus stood shocked and frantically looked around for the source of the sound, but he saw nothing but endless water and fjords. 

The water below the boat started bubbling, a pale blue light comng form below. Magnus thought his heart would stop, fearing that his friend, the merman he’d come to love, was slowly dissolving into foam.

The blue light became brighter and the bubbles more and bigger as Magnus saw two shapes slowly coming closer to the surface. The light became too bright and Magnus turned away, not daring to look back before he heard sobbing replace the sound of bubbling water. 

“You are alive,” Magnus turned to see Sindre wrapped in the arms of a smaller merman, who cried into his shoulder as Sindre stroked his hair. Magnus assumed it was Sindre’s brother, seeing the resemblace between the two.

Sindre was so happy to see his brother again, he didn’t notice the tingling feeling in his shoulder, left by the tears of his brother. 

“You’re alive…” Magnus sighed in relief, lying down on the floor of the boat, his heartbeat going back to normal when he noticed the merman’s tail back in place.   
He felt happy for the brothers’ being reunited, but at the same time he felt a creeping feeling of emptieness, making the palms of his hands burn, making him miss the feeling of Sindre’s soft skin. 

“Magnus,” he opened his eyes and turned around, seeing Sindre’s concerned face in front of him. 

“Thank you, for everything,” Sindre reached out his hands, once again clawed and scaly, gently cupping Magnus’ cheeks. 

Magnus knew it could be dangerous, possibly even the death of him, but he leaned into the merman’s touch and sighed when he felt the merman’s cold lips kiss his. He couldn’t hold back, and threw his arms around Sindre, falling off the boat and into the waves, not caring if he’d ever surface again, as long as he’d die in the merman’s arms.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~ One drop and kiss of love so pure ~

The water around him was cold and the salt stung his eyes. Magnus didn’t dare to breathe, knowing it would harm him.   
Instead, he focused on kissing the merman, wrapping himself around him as close as possible, hoping to not be left floating in the cold and dark ocean.

The kiss didn’t last long. Sindre quickly realized the danger of pulling Magnus under the water. He froze for a moment before swimming closer to the surface as quickly as he could, fearing that it could be too late.

“What were you thinking?” Sindre shouted once he and Magnus both had their heads above the water. Sindre’s hands cupped Magnus’ pale cheeks, shaking the man to bring him back to full conciousness. 

“You can’t breathe underwater, you could-” Sindre cut himself off, trying to calm himself down as he hugged Magnus close, sobbing into his shoulder when he felt Magnus slowly wrap his arms around him.

“You could have died,” the human man had come to mean so much to Sindre, he never wanted to put him in danger. Sindre sobbed apologies into Magnus’ shoulder as Magnus became more and more awake. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pulled you with me. I know it could be dangeroud, I… I don’t even know if you can swim.” 

Magnus shook his head at the merman, his eyes still closed from the stinging saltwater. 

“It’s okay I know you would save me,” Magnus pushed the merman away from his shoulder, tilting his chin up to kiss him once more, wondering for a moment if a merman’s kiss held the same power’s as their song. 

Sindre’s lips were cold and wet from both seawater and his tears, but the kiss was soft and chaste, and Magnus could feel Sindre sighing into it, with tears still running down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you but… hands’ off of my brother,” their kiss was broken when the smaller merman, Sindre’s brother, pulled Sindre away from Magnus, and sending a wave that pushed Magnus towards the boat and away from the two mermen. 

Magnus stared at the young white-haired merman that had pulled Sindre away, and he hung his head in defeat when he snarled at him, holding Sindre close as to protect him. 

He silently climbed into the boat again, looking around for towels or blankets to wrap himself in, not hearing the two mermen arguin in the water below. 

“I was just looking after you! Humans can hurt us, you know that.”  
“Magnus wouldn’t hurt me, I know that and I-” Sindre stopped thrashing around and opened his eyes wide, looking straight ahead into his brothers’ eyes. 

“I can.. I can see you,” Sindre couldn’t believe it. His vision was still blurry, and the sunlight made the pain in his already sore eyes greater, but he could see, for the first time in his life. 

Sindre smiled so wide in excitement, he willed himself to forget about the pain and ignore the struggle with keeping his eyes working for a moment. He broke free from his brothers’ grip and swam closer to the boat, shouting for Magnus’ to come closer to him, not bothering to mask the excitement in his voice.

“Want to say goodbye?” Magnus said as he looked down, caught off-guard when he saw Sindre with his eyes wide open, staring back at him. 

“No, I came to see you,” Sindre heaved himself up on the boat, reaching his arms up against Magnus. Sindre was silent, using all of his strenght to try to focus his vision, taking in every detail of Magnus’ face. 

He stroke his fingers along Magnus’ nose, jaw and lips, tangling his hands in the blond hair as he pulled Magnus down, kissing him deeply. 

“You really are handsome,” he sighed when they broke apart, blinking slowly and lips turned up in a smile ever so slightly. 

“I want to remember how you look, I don’t think I’ll be able to see much longer.”

Magnus looked confused, but Sindre offered him little explanation.   
Over the time that Sindre had spent with Magnus, he’d came to realize just how hard it could be for the man to understand the merman’s magic and existance. How could Sindre explain how painful it was to see, with the sun stinging his eyes and feeling himself grow weaker from using up too much power and magic just to keep his eyes working. 

Sindre told himself he’d explain the myths and magic of the moon to Magnus sometime, because even though Sindre was home, he didn’t want to leave the humans’ side.   
Part of him felt that the warm homely feeling would disappear once Magnus was no longer there with him. 

“It drains my power too much, and I’ve done very good without seeing,” Sindre leaned up to kiss Magnus again, closing his eyes and sighing from the sweet taste of Magnus’ lips and the pain in his head slowly fading away. 

When they broke apart, Sindre told Magnus to wait for him while he’d bid his brother goodbye. 

“My home is with Magnus now, and I trust you to be by yourself. I’ll come to visit you,” Sindre hugged his brother and promised him, his brother smiling sadly but accepting that his brother would go his own way. 

“Won’t you stay here? I thought this was your home?” Magnus asked when the merman returned to the boat. 

“My heart says you are my home now, if you allow me to stay.” 

Magnus felt his heart leap inside his chest, a red tint appearing on his cheeks.   
Even though he knew that Sindre couldn’t see it, he smiled widely and held his arms out to both mermen.   
“You are both welcome to me, as family.”

In all of his life, Magnus had dreamt of a family. As a child he’d dreamed of a spouse, children of his own and maybe a pet.   
But now, sitting on his livingroom couch with the two sleeping ‘former’ mermen leaning against him, he thought he’d found the best family he could ever have dreamt of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter!  
> This chapter felt a bit rushed, and I'm sorry for that. But I hope you enojyed nonetheless!


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